Seancha (bearer of old lore in Gaelic) is a matching/capture card game based on the myths and lore of Ireland. There are seven regular suits (Warfare, Legends, Landscape, Treasure, Roles, Religion, Stoneworks) which are captured by matching cards of the same suit. There are two special suits: Shamrocks and Dark Cards. Shamrocks are free points and extend a turn. Dark cards are discards against another player.

Each turn consists of an action followed by a discard. The action can be either capturing a same suited card on the Tableau with a card in a players hand or flipping over a card. The flipped card is now the only card that can capture: either a card from the players hand or one from the Tableau. Captured cards are moved to a players point field. A discard ends the turn which is either a regular suited card on the tableau or a dark card against another player.

Complexity and strategy is created by determining when to play Shamrocks to extend a turn, when to capture cards that can be effected by Dark cards, saving wild cards or other counter cards to combat a dark card, and strategizing to capture the cards that are part of a scal (story).
The goal of the game is to amass the highest points after four rounds. Points are counted on individual cards as well as in combinations of scalta (stories) that are depicted by matching icons. Dark cards are negative points and have special effects that can target other cards. Any cards left in a players hand at the end of a round are counted against them.

description from the publisher